Golden Performance From Lim and Jang

The combination from Korea Republic knew that they had a decent chance of glory heading into the Belarus Open final, after they knocked out the runners-up from the previous World Tour event Kim Minhyeok and Park Ganghyeon, in the penultimate round in Minsk.

However, Lim and Jang would face difficult opposition in the final with Russia’s Konstantin Chernov and Sadi Ismailov setting up an exciting battle between two Doubles teams, who had dropped just one game each across the entire competition.

Game one saw Chernov and Ismailov make a quick start out of the blocks but Lim and Jang responded, levelling the tie at 1-1.

Then a strong performance in the third end put the Koreans in the lead for the first time in the match, and the opposition of Chernov and Ismailov couldn’t keep up as Lim and Jang picked up a third game in a row to seal the victory (8-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6).

“We’re especially happy with our victory, because it’s the first official tournament that we play in a doubles. We hadn’t known our opponents before the match, so we lost the first set, but then we figured out the right tactics and found the courage to win” – Joint evaluation of the final from Lim Jonghoon and Jang Woojin (Korea Republic).

Two Countries Above the Rest

The Men’s Doubles category, as expected, saw Korea Republic and Russia stand out above the rest of the field with all four of the semi-final places being filled by the two countries.

Korea had three partnerships in the last four of the 2016 Czech Open before going on to win, while Russia were victorious at the 2016 Asarel Bulgaria Open with Alexey Liventsov and Mikhail Paikov taking the gold.

China and Japan may be considered as the stronger countries in the Men’s Doubles competitions throughout the World Tour, but Korea and Russia are starting to make their presence known.